Alopecia areata: spiritual meaning and emotional causes

What alopecia areata is

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition. The immune system attacks the hair follicles by mistake, and hair falls out in round or oval patches, most often on the scalp. It can also affect the beard, the eyebrows and the eyelashes. The bare skin usually looks smooth and healthy, and some people notice small dents or ridges in their nails. Rarely, all the hair on the scalp is lost (alopecia totalis), or all the hair on the body (alopecia universalis).

It can start at any age and affects men and women alike. It tends to run in families, and it is more common in people who have other autoimmune conditions, such as thyroid disease or vitiligo, or who have eczema or hay fever. It is not contagious, and it is not caused by anything a person did. Its course is hard to predict. Hair often grows back within months, sometimes fine and white at first, but patches can return or new ones appear. A dermatologist can offer treatments such as steroid injections or creams, immunotherapy, light treatment and, for more severe cases, tablets that calm the immune response. Wigs, eyebrow tattooing and support groups help many people.

Alopecia areata is different from common inherited thinning, which is covered on the page about hair loss.

The emotional meaning of alopecia areata

Spiritually, hair is linked to vitality and to protection. Losing it suddenly, in bare patches, is read as the sign of a blow: something that went through you and left an exposed place.

The patches have an immune cause, and the hair does not return or stay away depending on how you feel or what you resolve. What follows is a way to look at what you were living around them.

A shock, an anger, a loss of self-esteem

Alopecia areata is often read alongside an emotional shock, a surge of anger, or a drop in self-esteem that brings shame. There can also be a sense of having turned away from your spiritual side, from what connects you to your highest values.

Feeling less than others

Some people with alopecia areata recognise a feeling of being worthless at times, or less intelligent than those around them, and find that it makes relationships harder. If this is familiar, the question is where that comparison started, and whose voice it really is.

Hair standing on end

French has a verb, horripiler, which means to exasperate someone. Its root is the image of hair standing on end. Alopecia areata is heard alongside it: something or someone exasperated you deeply. It can feel as though your integrity was touched and your protection taken away, like a cover pulled off.

Separation and worry

A separation, often from the mother, may sit in the background, followed by a great deal of worry. A deep insecurity can feed a fear that keeps coming back.

Sharp as a fox, pleading your case

In French, someone fin comme un renard, as sharp as a fox, is clever and quick at slipping out of awkward situations. You may recognise that skill in yourself, and the question is whether it sometimes lets you step around responsibilities that are yours. At the same time, you may feel you always have to "plead your case", building arguments before anyone will listen to you or believe you.

The father in the mirror

Losing hair can bring back the image of a father who lost his own. If he has died or is very old, each look in the mirror may be a reminder of the separation, the one that has happened or the one to come. Seeing his face in yours can be uncomfortable, and part of you may even wish to deny the bond between you. Alopecia areata may ask what that bond means to you now, and what you would like to make peace with.

A gentler way to hold it

• Name the shock. Write down what was happening in your life when the first patch appeared, without deciding that it caused anything.
• Stand by your worth. Notice the moments you rank yourself below others, and answer each one with something true about you.
• Say what exasperated you. Anger that has words is easier to carry than anger that stays in the body.
• Speak plainly. Try stating your view once, simply, without building a defence around it.
• Take back what is yours. Choose one responsibility you have been slipping past, and meet it.
• Look at the bond. If you see your father in the mirror, ask what you would like to say to him, or about him.
• Make peace with yourself. Look for solutions that fit what matters most to you, including the care that helps you feel at ease with how you look.